


The Heart Of Me

by butimbroken, Scribes1015



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:54:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28780077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butimbroken/pseuds/butimbroken, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scribes1015/pseuds/Scribes1015
Summary: AU. Buffy makes an unlikely friend on her first day at Angelus Enterprises.
Relationships: Angel/Buffy Summers
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter One

"Fire them." 

The board members, Lindsey included, traded looks across the large mahogany table. If Angelus kept up this attitude they wouldn't have any employees left, already they were preparing for an influx of new interns come the start of the week. Their recent turn around rate was unprecedented in the history of the firm, they had long ago fallen from Forbes list of greatest places to work. 

Wesley cleared his throat, "Perhaps a lesser punishment would be more beneficial, after all each of them have barely completed the ninety days probationary period. Letting them go now would only cost the firm more in the long run." 

"Fine," Angelus tossed the files back on the desk, "But you're responsible for them, next time one of them screws up it's on you." 

Rolling his chair back, Angelus locked up his briefcase before grabbing it, silently signaling to the room that this meeting was over. The rest of the room stood as he made his exit, nodding their head, each of them began to utter some form of pleasantries that he didn't care to hear. His head was pounding, he hadn't even left the office until nearly midnight, exhausted he'd collapsed in bed with hopes of a good night's rest, but he knew better, that was too much to ask for. It wasn't even two am before the all too familiar nightmares had him shooting up in bed, heart pounding he clenched the damp sheets, confused it had taken him a moment to realize it was from the sweat pouring out of him. 

Finally safe in the confines of his own office, he wasted no time slamming his hand against the button on the wall which was designed to lower the shutters. He'd barely made it to the plush leather chair behind his desk when he heard the door behind him open once again. 

"You know, you keep up with this whole fire first ask questions later business, we're going to be running the whole damn place by ourselves."

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he groaned, at least it was Lindsey intruding, he wasn't so sure he could handle Harmony's yammering right now. "Well maybe if we weren't surrounded by a bunch of incompetent morons, I wouldn't be so apt to fire them." 

Lindsey grinned, "Rough night," he asked, making himself at home, tossing his own briefcase to the side as he took a seat across from his childhood friend. "Wanna talk about it?" 

"Not particularly," Angelus sighed, crossing his ankles as he propped them against the edge of his desk. 

Lindsey nodded, unlike every other poor soul employed at this firm, he was fortunate enough to be blessed with the ability to know what Angelus was thinking without having to ask. A knack that he knew pissed the elders off around here, but what could he say, it was one of the many benefits of putting up with the asshole for nearly his entire life. 

"Look Angel," Lindsey chuckled at his friend's attempt to glare, everyone else may know him by Angelus, but no matter what the asshole said he would always be Angel to him, plus he knew how much it annoyed him, and that was an opportunity he would never pass up on. "I've said it before and I'll say it again, why don't you take some time off? Get away from here for a while, go remember what it's like to be Angel again, it's been over five years…"

"Four and half," Angel corrected. 

"Okay," Lindsey drawled, "Four and half. My point is you need a break, you need a chance to focus on something outside these walls, hell outside of this damn city. You're killing yourself here, and honestly I'm tired of sitting by and watching it happen." 

"So leave," Angel groaned, his head falling back against the soft padding of the chair. They only had this conversation two hundred and forty-three times a year, and frankly he was sick of hearing it. He knew Linds was just trying to look out for him, but what Lindsey didn't understand was no matter where he was, this damn office or Tahiti, it didn't change things, and nothing ever would again. This place was all he had left of a family he would never see again, he didn't have time for fancy vacations,or extravagant nights out. Hell he barely found the time to eat most of the time, any type of personal life was just out of the question, he'd accepted long ago that part of life just wasn't in the cards for him, not anymore anyway. 

Lindsey being Lindsey wasn't so easily deterred, but eventually after a few more rounds of back and forth he gave up. Angel didn't even bother looking his way, but he heard him muttering something about him being a miserable jackass as the heavy door to his private sanctuary slammed so hard the walls rattled. 

Wincing, he searched through his desk for the bottle of pain relievers he kept stashed away. He hated taking the damn things, they never failed to churn his stomach, but there was no way he could make it through the rest of the day in this state. Flipping the top off the bottle, he tossed a couple tablets back straight from the container. 

With any luck he'd be feeling better by lunch, Darla was supposed to be coming by his place later tonight, and he had a feeling that if he canceled on her again it would take more than some new bag to get back in her good graces. It wasn't that they were serious, hell he wasn't even particularly fond of the woman, but she was a good lay and more importantly she knew how to keep her damn mouth shut. 

In his life discretion was key, the last thing he needed was his name or even worse his face plastered across some damn tabloid. He'd made that mistake in the past and needless to say he'd learned that lesson the hard way. Darla may be batshit crazy, but she was good at what she did and they had an agreement, she wouldn't press him for more as far as a relationship went and he wouldn't sleep around.

He was far from ignorant, and eventually he knew their little arrangement was sure to blow up one way or another, but that was both a headache and a problem for another day. 

The pain in his head easing, he let out a sigh of relief as he dared to open his eyes. Glancing at his watch he figured he had a solid two hours before the medication started to wear off and the nausea kicked in, though he would cross that bridge when he got to it. In the meantime he propped open his laptop to get started on the plethora of emails he knew were sure to be awaiting him. 

With any luck he would be able to knock them out, and sneak out of here before someone else requested his input on how to do their damn job. He knew the things people said about him, more than once he'd caught wind of some of the more outlandish theories about himself, about the happenings in his personal life, about his "supposed" real role around here at the company, and quite frankly anything else under the sun but at this point, and not for a long time now in fact, he really couldn't care less. If anything, the stories helped keep at least some of these damn fools in line and forced others to simply leave him the hell alone.

Hell, with a few of the rumors over the years he began to wonder how much truth there was in them anymore. He was far from the young man once so carefree that he had been before the hell that led him here, more like the demonic shell of a man just about everyone claimed him to be since his entire life had fallen apart around him. All of that had died in tragedy, his wants, how he had planned his life, his future to go no longer mattered to much of anything anymore.

Rubbing a large hand over his tired face, he started replying to one e-mail after another until his eyes felt as though they were starting to cross and gave up. The rest would always be there to deal with later he told himself as he set the laptop off to the side and wondered what else he could bother himself with next.

OoOoO

Dealing with the aftermath of the meeting earlier in the day, first with Angel and then with the rest of the team who'd been there, Lindsey had taken a later lunch than usual. He wound up walking back in after his return just as his latest assistant, Sheila, came rushing right past him in a crying blur, red faced and shaking, moving as quickly as she could. He held up a hand as his body turned toward her but words died on his tongue... he didn't really have to ask what had happened and he'd been here and done this enough times to know it would do no good anyway to try and go after her.

He'd been here and done this song and dance enough times.

Sighing, he contemplated dumping the extra bag of food he had brought back for Angel, Lord knew the asshole wouldn't remember to eat half the time unless it was forced at him, into the trash... but he tightened his grip instead and continued toward the elevator bank.

He was just starting to let himself wonder what sort of situation he'd been walking into, or what had even happened, when the flood of text messages came. Shaking his head, he started going through them, even as he arrived on the right floor.

OoOoO

Sometimes Lindsey wondered why he even bothered with trying to talk any reason into his best friend, he was sure he'd have better luck holding a conversation with a brick wall than him. And it never mattered what the topic was... it could be about him needing to take a break from this place like earlier, a better way to go about a project, easing off of the people around here, explaining that everyone was bound to make a mistake now and again and expecting everyone to be on top of their game and at some heightened perfection was unreasonable, and everything beyond and inbetween and it would always be the same cycle. 

And yet, here he was, explaining how this little blow up of his not only was fucking up his day but its Domino effect. He had a big meeting planned for later this week that he had really needed Sheila for, she had been the first assistant since his sister - who he had managed to pawn off to Angelus because he was about ready to strangle her - to actually last long enough to prove to be of any use. 

Angelus of course cared not. She screwed up, and he didn't stand for that. He didn't have time for cleaning up everyone else's mistakes. Blah, blah, blah.

Nor did he care too much about the fact that again he was explaining that they were running out of damn bodies to even get in here. Once upon a time people all over the country would fight to get a spot here but those days had quietened down, now it felt like he was begging temp agencies more than anything else just to get some help. Most of them were pissed off at the whole company these days, too. 

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he wondered if he had any favors left around town he could try to chip in to make this whole mess he was now stuck with go forward. 

OoOoO

Lilah Morgan rolled her eyes as she sat herself down at her desk, listening to Lindsey and his little sob story. She had been telling him that company was a sinking ship since Angelus stepped up to take control of everything and it was only getting worse by the day from all the stories she heard. She was glad she got out of there when she had. Of course she didn't have some bromance situation with Angelus either so she had no trouble cutting ties and moving on to bigger and better projects like he did. 

"Linds, quite frankly I don't even know what you think I can do," she told him once he took a pause. "It's not like I can just drop everything here and run across town to help you for the next few days. Even if I wanted to."

He chuckled a bit at that, telling her he knew that much but circled around to wondering if she had anyone or a group of anyone's under her who might fit the bill in a pinch for what he needed that he could possibly borrow. 

"It's bad enough you run off all your own interns and employees, now you want to traumatize mine, too?" she half joked. "Well, I'll see what I can come up with. I guess it couldn't hurt," she mumbled. 

OoOoO

Buffy Summers had been really excited when Lilah came into their little office and told the team she had an unusual, surprise project for them. She hadn't been here long but so far had enjoyed the new experience. They had impressed the pretty, bossy brunette enough to be moved up to a corner office on her floor already and while it wasn't exactly the most impressive by any means... it was at least something. She felt proud enough about it. 

She and the others had sat at their little desks as Lilah proposed the idea but once she mentioned who exactly this little favor job was for, she couldn't help but pale at the idea. Thankfully, she wasn't the only one who seemed to have reservations about working with an associate of that particular firm, two of the others raising their own questions and concerns as soon as they had a chance. 

Lilah nodded her head and did her best to be sympathetic, knowing first hand how everything was over there, but promising they would have limited contact beyond this Lindsey character and it was only for the next few months, just long enough to get through the holidays and find someone permanent. All in all it didn't sound so bad, not the way Lilah was presenting it anyhow, and the added bonus each week would definitely have its perks, that is if you could manage to not get fired. 

Everyone in the business either knew of Liam Angelus or heard the rumors. She'd never met the man, but she knew a handful of people who had been signed onto his firm only to be let go by the end of the week. She had to admit she was a bit curious about the man though, she liked to believe there was good in even the worst of people, you just had to figure out how to find it. 

OoOoO

Her first day wasn't starting out as great as she would have liked, she'd slept through her alarm waking up with barely enough time to even grab a coffee, then some jerk ran smack into her which caused her to spill said coffee all down her new coat. The traffic had been a nightmare, and now she found herself with less than four minutes to spare before she needed to be up twelve stories behind some desk that she wasn't even sure where it was. 

Dashing towards the elevator she only hoped she quickly prayed for at least one thing to go her way. There were a few people standing around but they didn't seem to be in much of a rush to get on even though she could see that the doors were in fact open. Slipping past one of them she got inside just as the heavy metal doors began to close. 

"Twelve please," she quickly murmured to the man staring strangely at her. Smoothing her hair hoping that it wasn't sticking up or something, she started to give him a quick smile but it instead turned into a look of shock when she had a second to finally take him in. 

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," she muttered dropping all sense of formality. "I guess it shouldn't surprise me that you work for Angelus Enterprises, I mean from what I hear the whole place is ran by an asshole just like you." 

Normally she would never be so frank with someone she didn't even know, but this man, whoever he was, wasn't exactly a stranger either. He was the reason she'd had to forego her coat even though it was damn near freezing outside. "Hello," she waved when the man did little other than raise an eyebrow towards her. "Coffee House, roughly an hour ago, you," she pointed, "Ran into me," she emphasized pointing back to herself. "Causing me to spill my coffee, on my very new, very expensive blazer I might add, then you just stormed off like I was the one who had gotten in the way…" 

Sensing this conversation was going nowhere she shook her head, "You know what, just forget it." She let out a long sigh, "Will told me this place was cursed, suppose I shouldn't expect any less on my first day."

At first he hadn't known what to think when the small blonde stepped into his private elevator. Of course he assumed she was new, there was no one, well other than Lindsey, brave enough to try such a feat. He had been just about to open his mouth to speak, to let the young woman know about the mistake she'd made when he saw that glimmer of recognition in her eye. He assumed she had realized her mistake, but then she opened her mouth and surprisingly it hadn't been to apologize. Then it hit him, she didn't have a clue who he was. 

Letting his eyes rake over her, he quickly came to a decision. Sooner or later the poor girl was going to figure out who he was, he didn't see any harm in having a bit of fun in the meantime. After all what she said was true, he had bumped into her this morning, albeit unintentionally. 

Mimicking her stance, he let himself relax against the steel wall. "Look for what it's worth, I'm sorry. This morning I thought you were just some dumb kid, I was in a hurry and I wasn't paying attention." 

"A kid?"

He nodded, she was such a tiny little thing even in the boots she was wearing he wouldn't put her past five two. "In case you haven't noticed you are kind of small." 

"Well I don't know if that's supposed to make me feel better or worse about you."

He couldn't help but chuckle, she was feisty he had to give her that. "Why do you say that?" 

"Because on one hand yes you're apologizing but on the other you're basically telling me that you're only apologizing because I'm not some dumb kid. I'll have you know that girls no matter what age have feelings mister, a simple sorry goes a long way."

He grimaced, "I thought I already said that?"

"What?"

"I'm sorry."

"Oh you did. I was just pointing out that it was weak."

"Weak?"

"Mmhmm."

His head was spinning, in sixty seconds this woman had stood up to him in ways most of the men in this building wouldn't believe. "What's your name?"

She continued to eye him skeptically for a moment, silently wondering why all the hot guys had to either be gay or complete assholes, it just wasn't fair. "Buffy," she finally managed just as the elevator dinged, lighting up the number twelve with a bright white light. "Well thanks for the apology," she grinned, "But for the record you should keep practicing." 

OoOoO

All morning Angel couldn't seem to get the blonde of his mind, and honestly it was starting to annoy him. He should have never let her get off that damn elevator without telling her who he was. He still wasn't really sure why he hadn't, for one there hadn't been a lot of time, especially not with the way she kept yammering on, but more than that he found it… entertaining. 

As soon as he got to his office he had pulled up the employee files on his computer but he couldn't find anything, it didn't surprise him too much with it being her first day, not with the crack staff he seemed to have anyhow. Figuring he was bound to bump into her at some point, he let it go, or at least he tried too, though his damn head didn't seem to want to listen. He knew if it came down to it he could always ask Lindsey, he was usually the one in charge of the new hires, but going to him just meant that he would be inviting a whole new host of problems his way. 

Linds seemed to constantly stay on his ass about lightening up or getting out with someone that wasn't Darla. No, if he heard about this morning he would run so far with that information, he'd probably still be bringing her up next year. She was cute though, she was younger yes, but there was just something about her that made him feel more alive in the brief elevator trip up than he probably had in the past several years. He couldn't quite put a finger on why or how, maybe it was the simple shock of how she spoke to him or the refreshing thought of someone not even knowing who he was in these walls in the first place, but whatever it was something about her was haunting him since they'd parted ways and he really didn't know what to do with that.

Any free time he had the rest of the morning seemed to either be trying to spot her somewhere or replaying every single one of their brief moments together over in his head on loop. 

OoOoO

Thankfully Buffy found her day turning around a bit by the time she found where it was she was supposed to be, surrounded by a couple familiar faces, and when she realized she wasn't the latest member of their team to arrive, and as things got started. She found she liked the gig so far, this Lindsey guy was actually pretty damn cute and she had probably swooned once or twice over the sound of his voice during his long lectures so far, and she found him to be a lot nicer than she'd been imagining, actually everyone other than the man in the elevator had been surprisingly pleasant so far that she'd had any interaction with... not that that was exactly a large number of people. 

She had sat and listened while Lindsey explained a little bit about himself and about the company before moving on to talking about what exactly the project at hand was, the meeting they were supposed to be preparing for later this week and if it went well how the next couple of months should go with them seeing this thing through. It wasn't exactly the same as their usual day to day under Lilah but she doubted any one of them would have issue taking this little job on. 

Today was bound to be mostly a long string of meetings, getting whatever paperwork still needing to put in, badges and whatever else but she was feeling pretty productive after a few hours had come and gone. Not exactly a lot of progress was being made but she liked knowing more about what in the world they were even doing and had been able to come up with a few ideas already which Lindsey had even put one of them up on a board to discuss when they'd gotten a little more ahead of themselves. 

One of the other girls had been brave enough to bring up some of the concerns relating to the reputation of this place and Lindsey had looked a bit sheepish and more than anything seemed to dance around addressing anything head on but at the end of the day Buffy supposed she could only do her best and if something screwed up over here it wasn't going to be the end of the world, Lilah had already pretty much told the whole group to be let go sooner or later and assured them no matter what went down here it wasn't like they couldn't just go back to their normal hustle and bustle back with her. 

As their lunch break came around, Buffy grumbled as she stared out the water soaked window, then again as she looked at her phone seeing it was colder out now than it had been when she got here this morning. Their little office they were designated to had its own break room so she lazily pulled up a seat and began looking for close by restaurants to either chance rushing off to, or better, seeing if they might deliver down to the lobby. 

OoOoO

"I heard a rumor about you," Lindsey announced upon entering Angelus' office, quickly being cut off by him signaling he was on the phone, then letting his attention go back to the moron on the other end of the line while Lindsey made himself all too comfortable in a seat on the other side of his desk, placing food off to the side, obviously a portion of it Linds having picked up for him. 

Once he was finally done with the call, Lindsey quickly picked up where he'd left off at. "Apparently you have yet to yell at anyone all day today. I haven't seen a single person even cry so far."

"Ha, ha," Angel replied, quite unamused. "I've rarely even been out of this room today actually, fucking phone hasn't stopped ringing and Harmony apparently rescheduled a meeting I had been prepared for so I had to clean up yet another one of her messes. Are you sure we can't just give her a toy phone and some crayons and let her just think she's doing something around here before I wind up strangling her off the fly one day?"

Lindsey shrugged. "Hey, well, I'd be a good witness there for you huh, I mean I'm sure she'd have it coming. Sister or not. I can testify to that shit."

Angel made some noise of agreement before taking a look at his little stack of containers Lindsey had put out in front of him earlier. After a couple moments he dared to ask how the new crack team he was borrowing from Lilah Morgan was working out so far, wondering more than a little if that was where this Buffy girl had come from as she filtered across his brain for the countless time. 

Lindsey finished chewing then gave a bit of a shrug. "So far I gotta say I'm actually impressed, I might be able to pull this shit off... despite your best efforts to fuck things to hell mind you. And as long as you stay away from the lot of them I don't see how I'd have too many problems getting through this after all," Lindsey finished off with a big smile his friends' way.

Angel half listened as Lindsey rambled on about his morning, only really perking up when he made mention of the blonde by name in passing. Trying not to be too obvious about it, he did ask a couple of questions relating to her and the opening Linds had left there, making a mental note that she was in fact one of the people they were borrowing from Lilah and anything else he'd learned from this little conversation.

OoOoO

Standing up as everyone was starting to gather up their things to get out of here for the day, Buffy leaned a bit over the table as she finished her train of thought in her notes before stretching then placing her own items in a pile. Looking around the room, she quickly discarded a few pieces of trash the others had left just laying about and straightened the room back up with their books, papers and random supplies they'd all gotten out throughout the day. 

Lindsey waited at the door to make sure he told each one of them one last thank you for even coming in to do any of this, smiling as he followed her out into the hall. He always kept things strictly professional when it came to work, he had learned the hard way a long time ago to never mix business with pleasure, still though a fine piece of ass like her sure did make it hard to concentrate sometimes. 

After bidding Lindsey farewell for the evening Buffy made her way down to the parking garage. 'At least it's covered,' she thought as she stepped off. It was absolutely frigid at barely forty degrees, she was from here, and saying that she wasn't used to this kind of weather was the freaking understatement of the year. 

OoOoO

He had to do a double take when he saw her just steps in front of him as his elevator doors opened. He knew that he should just act like he hadn't seen her and keep walking, but she looked like she was freezing and he knew it was his own damn fault. Quickly shrugging off his coat he took a few quick steps to catch up to her, "Here," he sighed, raising his voice over the splatter of the rain outside. 

She'd nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of his voice, everything in the garage seemed to echo she hadn't even heard another elevator arrive behind her. Heck she hadn't even heard him or known he was there until she felt the warmth of his coat surrounding her. "Oh, hey," she smiled, "This really isn't necessary," she tried but even as the words left her mouth she felt her hands pulling the leather more snuggly around her. 

Angel waved her off, "I'm pretty sure it's the least I could." Then he watched, entranced as her teeth raked over bottom lip. 

"Well thank you," the smallest blush tinted her cheeks, "And I promise to return it tomorrow." 

Not quite trusting the thoughts swirling around inside his head he simply nodded then turned to walk away, pausing when he heard her ask his name. 

Turning around slowly he smirked just barely fighting back the grin threatening to overtake him. "Angel." 

"Angel," she repeated in a way that seemed like she was testing how the words felt. "Kinda ironic don't ya think?"

That actually got him to laugh, if only just a little . "I see you survived the day, was it as bad as you thought?"

She groaned a little as she fell in step along side of him. "It had its moments but overall it definitely turned out better than I planned." 

"And that boss of yours, how was he?" 

She smiled, "Oh Lindsey was great, he actually seems really nice surprisingly enough. I still haven't met the big boss yet, but I'm not really holding my breath on that one either. Apparently his office is on the floor above us and according to the gossip he hardly ever ventures down to where us commoners gather. I mean I'm sure I'll meet him at some point this week but the longer I can push that off the better."

She paused as they came up to her car, "Well this is me," she gestured towards the old Honda. "Here," she went to shrug off his jacket but he stopped her by shaking his head, "Keep it, 'till tomorrow at least." 

"Are you sure?"

He just nodded, "Oh and Buffy?"

She turned back around,"Hmm?"

"Liam's not so bad, whenever you do meet him just try to keep an open mind." 


	2. Chapter Two

Making herself some dinner she couldn't help but let her mind wander to Angel. The name was kind of odd, but it seemed to fit him, plus she really didn't have any room to talk when it came to strange names anyways. After this evening she couldn't help but beat herself up for the way she had treated him this morning, but it wasn't like he hadn't deserved it. Regardless, between him and Lindsey's antics throughout the day her mind sure was turning around in regards to this little opportunity. 

Of course she knew better than to even think about an office romance, but making a few new friends never hurt anyone. Plus it was well known that Lindsey Mcdonald had connections and lots of them, if she could manage to stay in his good graces there was no telling what opportunities might await her.

OoOoO

The next morning she made sure not to hit snooze on her alarm even once, after much consideration she skipped the coffee shop completely and in doing so she managed to miss the brunt of rush hour traffic. Making sure she grabbed Angel's coat, she bit back the smallest stab of disappointment when she entered the elevator alone heading up to the twelfth floor. 

As she had expected she was one of the first ones in the office. Folding up the borrowed jacket she went to place it in one of the large bottom drawers of her desk. The last thing she needed was to draw attention to the fact that she was showing up to work on her second day with a male coworkers jacket. Even though it was completely one hundred percent innocent that was exactly how rumors got started. 

It was only after she had gotten back from grabbing a water bottle from the fridge in the breakroom that she noticed the small card propped up against the coffeehouse cup on her desk. Picking it up she lightly traced the bold script which spelled her name, the faintest smile gracing her lips. 

The card simply read, " _ Hopefully this isn't considered as weak, -Angel."  _ and behind the note there was a gift card to Neimans. Her eyes about bulged out of her head at that, she was pretty sure she couldn't afford a freaking pair of socks from there, but she couldn't help but feel her heart swell a bit at the gesture. Still there was no way she could accept such a gift, deciding she would insist it was too much and give it back whenever she returned his coat she tucked it safely inside her purse. 

Unfortunately she was pretty sure that Angel probably worked up on the top floor, a place she had yet to work up the courage to venture up too. It wasn't that she was scared, but things had been going so well, and after so much hesitation and anxiety she was finding herself actually enjoying this place, so far at least, she just didn't want to chance it by crossing paths with a certain someone up there. 

"Well hello there gorgeous," came Lindsey's voice interrupting her from her thoughts. "Please tell me you don't plan on making this a habit, trust me I will never be here for you to impress before eight a.m." 

Her head shook, "Nah, I was just trying to beat the traffic,  _ trust me _ when I say that yesterday morning was nothing less than an adventure."

It always made him nervous when he knew that parts of his team showed up before him. Angel had a bad habit of being the first one in the office most days and every once in a while he would get some wild hair up his ass, deciding that he needed to walk through and see just what everyone else was up to and poking his nose into things he really didn't need to be concerning himself with for everyone's sake and more than likely scaring off people that they really couldn't afford to be losing left and right. Given he had very little time left to prepare for possibly one of his biggest meetings he'd been in charge of this year, with a handful of strangers no less, and no matter how promising they seemed, and then hopefully have a project to go forward with from there... well, that was already enough to make him want to have some sort of heart failure. Add in Angel taking even a single one of these people out right now was more than he was wanting to imagine. 

"Besides, with a new routine and all, I still have figuring out the best route over this way to beat traffic and arrive on time daily, planning out exactly how long I can sleep in without not being late, how to get a cup of coffee along the way and all that," she added with a hint of a smile. 

Lindsey chuckled a bit and nodded his understanding as he placed his briefcase down. "Do you have a longer or shorter drive to make it out here?"

"Longer, but not by too much. Thankfully. I get a handful of extra songs in the mornings so I can't complain too much there."

"I keep trying out different podcasts, not so sure I'm into that whole thing though."

Buffy took a sip of her coffee, one of the little apology gifts she wasn't going to mind taking Angel up on at least. "I don't like people talking on my radio," she told him, her nose wrinkling up a bit. "I don't do those podcast things, I also don't do morning talk shows, little commercial breaks... or anything of that nature... nope, not here for that. I'm a big station skipper."

"Probably a much smarter choice."

OoOoO

Angel sighed, pouring himself a second glass and quickly downing its contents as he stared up at the portrait of his late grandfather. Today was feeling fucking long... and for him that was saying something. And it only felt more looming with the fact he wished he could just go home at the end of the day, shut his brain off, shower, change into some comfortable pajamas, and simply pass out... but he knew all too well that would never happen. Not for him. 

All too often he found himself ready to get the hell out of this building and just go home, just get away from here, then once he was and then had nothing to distract him from his own thoughts he'd be praying for morning to be right back in these damn walls. 

The fact that he'd had a surprise phone call from one of his family's oldest friends and one of his grandfather's former biggest business associates sure hadn't help matters any. Every conversation with the old man seemed to be a lot more reminiscing about what life once was rather than staying on subject and that just took too much out of him to deal with. 

Angel knew he only meant well, he wanted to reach out, to help, and what the fuck every else but he just couldn't. Being asked how he was - truly, talking about his family, that nervous pause before the advice or trying to tell him everything wasn't his fault or something along those lines would come and it was just too much. 

Sighing again, "I have no idea how in the hell you managed all of this," Angel whispered up to the portrait. Silently he added how he didn't know much longer he was going to be able to keep this shit up. 

He had never been meant to take control of this place and the more time went on the more evident that seemed. He tried... sometimes anyway... not that it seemed to matter. With the circumstances leading him here, how rushed everything had been, how resentful he was so much of the time, and everything branching out from there had created an endless cycle of chaos. 

OoOoO

Angel sat back down at his desk with the intention of replying to an e-mail Harmony had now pestered him about a total of four times before he yelled at her to leave him alone but without thinking about it he instead found himself searching for Buffy's file once more. His heart leaped a little as this time he found one, short, to the point, not much information about one of their newest employees but it was something. 

He read over her profile until he had it memorized, then read it some more. Her official photo was added on as well and he spent more time than he would have liked to admit staring at that as well, his thoughts becoming a little dark and depressing as he wondered if she'd liked her coffee he'd taken a chance on this morning, or if that and the gift card was too much, too little... He wondered what she was doing right then, how things were going on the floor below him, if her second day here was going better than the first...

OoOoO

Buffy was a bit worried she wouldn't have some run in with him after all today, getting to the parking garage she waited five, then ten, then fifteen minutes... feeling crazier by the tick. When she did finally spot him though she let out a breath of relief, climbing back out of her car and calling out to him. 

"Hi," he greeted, coming closer. 

"Hi," she echoed, suddenly feeling nervous. "I-I, uh, I just wanted to thank you for the coffee," she rushed out and held out his jacket. "And for letting me borrow this yesterday, that was very kind." Angel lifted an eyebrow as she also held out that shiny gift card back out for him to take. "And I need to return this to you as well because that is also very sweet but would be very wrong of me to take."

"I thought you could use it and replace your jacket from yesterday."

Buffy chuckled a little, "Oh, no, _ I got that _ ! That's just... that's  _ way too  _ generous and I can't accept, but thank you for the thought."

He stared at the card, then her, not taking it. Not even when she tried to jiggle it and hope he took up on the gesture. "Do you not like the store?"

"I like to window shop there, and even that seems like I'm way too poor to even do," she laughed and found she had to pretty much force him to take the damn thing back. 

OoOoO

"You look kind of sad," Buffy suddenly said. "Kind of sad, and a lot tired. Like my grandmother would have said,  _ you look like your soul is tired _ ," her voice slightly sang.

"That's assuming I have one," he tried to joke. "Pretty sure this place has been slowly sucking what's left of that out of me since the day I got here," he admitted. 

She felt a sharp stab of sadness pierce through her, he just seemed so lost, so alone, and she never wanted anyone to feel like that. "What about when you're at home? I mean surely you have someone waiting for you there, maybe you could even take a few days off, grab your sweetie and get away from here for a few days. Everyone needs a little soul charging some time."

He shrugged, "Sometimes I think about it, calling in or just not showing up, but then I remember that I just don't have that luxury. My Grandpa, he worked here back when this was the place to be, and I just feel like I'm failing him somehow. Like every decision I make is wrong, everyday I can't wait to go home, but as soon as I walk through the door it's as though a whole new set of failures smack me in the face. At least when I'm here I know what I'm supposed to be doing, what I'm in charge of, outside these walls I'm…" he paused, realizing for the first time that he was pretty much pouring his heart out to this poor girl who wasn't even aware who he was. 

"You're what," her voice betraying her, coming out as more of a breathy whisper, almost like she was daring him to continue. 

He couldn't help but notice the way her eyes seemed to sparkle as the light filtered in from the side of the garage. The way her lips barely parted as she listened seemingly almost to have the ability to look right inside him. He smirked, "Talking entirely too much, I'm sorry, I'm sure you have somewhere to be." 

"Hey," she grinned, "No biggie, as you witnessed yesterday I am definitely prone to my own little outburst from time to time, as far as I'm concerned we're even."

"No you were right yesterday in my…" he stammered, "I mean in the elevator, I'd been an ass. You had every right to feel the way you did. And," he paused to dig his pocket, "I'm afraid we won't be even until you take this back," he told her softly, holding the gift card back out to her.

"Angelll," she half whined, "I told you it's too much, besides do you know how out of a place I would feel at a place like that. Have you ever even been inside a Neiman Marcus before, that's where people like I dunno Oprah shop, not girls like me."

For some reason he didn't like the way she seemed to think so little of herself, before he knew what was happening he felt his mouth moving, "I'll tell you what, if nothing catastrophic happens here tomorrow then I'll meet you out here for lunch. It will get me out of this place for a bit and I'll take you to whatever store you want. Neimans, Gap," he grinned, "Walmart, whatever you're comfortable with." 

"Ha...ha…" she blew out a long breath, there was no way she should agree to this. He'd been nothing but a gentleman, well other than their first meeting anyway, but honestly she almost felt like a completely different person stood in front of her now. Instead of turning him down though she heard herself agreeing, on one condition, that he promised her they wouldn't be gone longer than an hour, she really wasn't trying to make any bad impressions her first week here. 

OoOoO

The entire drive home he replayed their conversation again and again and again. He wasn't sure what the hell had gotten into him or why he'd pushed for her to go to lunch with him tomorrow. Had he even a lick of sense in his damn brain he would have just taken the damn card back or better yet refused to take it back and just left it at. He was playing a dangerous fucking game here, who couldn't just start befriending random employees, especially random beautiful female employees, there was no telling what the rest of the office would think. 

Not that he cared what anyone said, not about him anyways, but she was new and the last thing he wanted was to be the reason she ended up with a bad reputation. He just couldn't help himself though, even though he didn't understand it, he wanted to know her, he wanted to enjoy this short reprieve of getting to know someone who wasn't only after his money, his name, his power… even if it all blew up in his face in the end. 

She was working under Lindsey, which meant that he was pretty sure their paths would cross inside the office by the end of the week when all the big meetings started taking place. A part of him was enjoying this little charade far more than he probably should, but another part of him couldn't wait for her to just know who he was. Of course he figured that as soon as she put the pieces together and found out who he really was then the whole dynamic between would change. Though that didn't mean he couldn't have a bit more fun in the meantime. 

OoOoO

The next morning she was early again, having foregone stopping by the coffee shop once more. With the extra distance she had to travel she figured it was either that or wake up an extra half hour earlier and that just wasn't going to happen. She was however surprised to find a fresh latte sitting on her desk just like it had the day before, a small smile graced her lips as she looked around for a certain dark haired employee, but he was nowhere to be seen. The cup was still warm though so he must not have dropped it off too long ago she told herself, Then briefly wondered just what time he usually made it into the office, she was early, but knowing the little that she did about him it wouldn't surprise her if he was the first one here. 

Lindsey had once again chastised her for being so early, saying that she was going to make him look bad if she kept showing up before him each morning. But once she showed him everything that she'd gotten accomplished in the short time she had the office to herself he didn't seem to mind as much. No matter how hard she tried not too she could help but steal a glance at the clock every so often. More than once she had convinced herself that she should just cancel this whole thing, but then she remembered she didn't have his number, which only left her with the option of tracking him down in the office, something she wasn't too keen on trying just yet, especially not upstairs. 

Though Lindsey had informed her that she would be sitting in on a meeting tomorrow with himself and his boss, he hadn't referred to him by name but Buffy knew exactly who that meant. She wouldn't lie, a small knot had formed in her stomach at the thought, but Lindsey had promised her that everything would be okay and that there wasn't anything to worry about. 

She almost found herself asking if Angel would be in attendance too, but just as it was on the tip of her tongue she thought better of it, not wanting to see what can of worms she might open. If anything she figured she could always ask Angel later and not raise any warning with her boss on that front.

Deciding it best to just push the handsome dark haired man out of her mind until it was time to meet up with him for lunch, she closed her eyes and counted to three quickly before going over the plans for tomorrow one more time. She really hoped they could pull this off tomorrow, of course she and the team were being asked to do very little during the whole thing with Lindsey taking on way too much given he was left scrambling and all, but you never knew what could really happen. She didn't exactly know her boss well by any means but she could tell all of this meant a lot to him and she was enjoying the project so far. She really didn't mind helping him get a win here and maybe even seeing this thing through... at least for a bit longer.

OoOoO

After informing Lindsey that he didn't need to bother bringing him anything on break since he would be out of the office, he then ignored the prying questions that followed in a couple text messages from his friend while he nervously waited for Buffy to join up with him. Rubbing his hands together a few times he thought he was thankful that while it was still colder out than he would personally prefer, it at least wasn't raining cats and fucking dogs today. 

He was well aware this whole situation had to be this side of insane but he was really hoping against his own better judgement that she wouldn't turn his offer down now that she'd had time to think more about it. 

Based on her body language and the look on her face once she spotted him and began making her way to where he was waiting, he was pretty sure she was going to cancel on him with some excuse or another, but he barely gave her a chance to even greet him in the first place before he was telling her he hoped she wouldn't have too much trouble finding something, hoping she would still have time to shop and maybe grab something quick to eat before their hour was up and they would both be needed back here. 

"Oh, come on, it'll be fun," he told her when she still tried. 

"Endlessly bizarre maybe," Buffy countered but had a hint of a smile on her face.

Angel shrugged. "That too," he agreed. "Sometimes we all need to do something crazy and off the wall though."

OoOoO

Having had her follow him out, he'd gotten a bit ahead of her near the end of their journey so had enough time to park and found a spot to look for her near the doors. He watched as she eyed his vehicle as she got closer, looking then to him, the large building looming before them, then back to his car. "What exactly do you even do at Angelus Enterprises?" 

"Run the place," he dared to answer with after a brief pause.

Buffy huffed out a bit of laughter at that, "Uh huh. Well whatever it is you're doing it seems to be paying off I guess."

He shrugged again and turned the focus back to her and how her day was going as they made their way inside. 

"I think I was doing a lot better before Lindsey confirmed a certain someone I'd rather not cross paths with would be in attendance," she told him. "You might have trouble believing this but I do really try and think the best in other people but it is very unnerving you know, I mean there's no end of stories and rumors and everything on that front. I keep picturing... well, a whole series of worst case scenarios and things that could wrong tomorrow which I really need to stop doing."

"I think you'll be alright. Lindsey seems to think highly of how everything is looking from my understanding."

"I hope," she said with a sigh, pausing to look around. "Do you know him?"

"Lindsey? Well, yeah." 

She shook her head. 

"Oh," he said quietly. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"And... well you absolutely don't have to answer this, but do you think he's as... um... as hard to deal with as everyone put it out there he is?"

"I think that would require a very complicated answer."

"Fair enough."

OoOoO

"I am really starting to think taking you up on that offer about Walmart would have been a better plan," Buffy whispered after her eyes had attempted to break free from her face for probably the tenth time. 

"Would you stop looking at the price tags to everything, find something you actually like and let me worry about the rest."

She looked over at him like he'd grown a second head. "Okay, as much as I love my coffee stained blazer, I'm pretty sure I can soak and scrub it back to glory. And, as much as I love it, I wouldn't have for a second thought to pay some outrageous price for it and I'm not about to let you pay..." she held up the closest jacket she could grab, "oh my gosh, a thousand dollars on something. Not to replace mine. I mean I get you're trying to go above and beyond but really, you are a stranger to me, and all you did was happen to bump into me then acted like, well, more people than I'd like to admit probably would have."

"Do you like that one?" he asked, ignoring her little rant there, nodding his head toward her hands.

She shook her head quickly, then harshly whispered her unflattering opinion of the piece. "You know, some of these things really seem to make sense about their prices. It's not something I would spend personally but I get it for those who can, you know. Then you see things like that in the mix and that's a big what the fuck situation."

"Well, what does catch your eye? Just look around and hand it off, don't look at the tag, just.... look around, see if there's something that stands out," he told her again. 

She sighed loudly, coming around to scan the area first. "You know, shopping is supposed to be a fun activity. This right here is way too stressful for that."

OoOoO

It had taken a lot more effort than he was used to on these kinds of things, but Buffy had at least looked at a few she said she liked, trying a couple on as well, until there were a few final contenders. Watching her close enough, he could already tell which one she in fact liked the most by how her eye kept fluttering back its way to it. 

He gave her a few more minutes before going to grab it back up himself, hearing her already whining his name again and telling him she couldn't accept any of this. "I promise it's fine besides we're quickly closing in on that hour you've been so worried about." 

He had her there, she'd even went so far as grabbing his arm a few times to check the time on his watch when they walked between stores. Taking a deep breath she tried to ignore how odd all this truly was. Angel seemed to be going above and beyond just to make sure she was happy, and she wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

She blushed, taking the bag from his hands, "Thank You."

OoOoO

Trying to beat the clock they had decided to just grabbed something to go from one of the small cafés next to the shopping center. Of course Angel wasn't worried about either of them running late, but he couldn't exactly let her know that. If it came down to it he could always shoot Linds a text letting him know she was going to be late but then he'd end up having to deal with that never ending train of questions. 

Climbing from his car, his mind drifted to tomorrow and what that meant. As much as he wasn't used to this business of someone not knowing who he was, a part of him couldn't help but find it refreshing. With her he didn't have to act like the professional, he could just be himself, whoever that was these days. He knew he should head straight for the elevator and leave her be, but he just couldn't help himself as he walked up behind her car and waited for her to get out. 

Falling into step behind him she tried to thank him again but he just waved her off, "I already told you it's not a big deal."

"Well it is to me," she grinned, "I mean it's definitely not every day some hunky stranger whisks you away on a shopping spree." 

"Hunky?" 

She gave a little shrug, she could almost swear she saw a blush creeping over him, sometimes she really wished she had a better filter, though she supposed there was nothing wrong with a little teasing either.

Fumbling for his key card to get the elevator working he tried to discern whether or not she was actually flirting with him, but before he could give it much thought he heard the cutest laugh erupting from her. "So should I expect to see you at this meeting Lindsey's is so worried about tomorrow?"

"Lindsey's worried?" 

"Eh," she adjusted the bags on her arm, "I think he just wants to impress the big guy. He mentioned something about really enjoying working with us, I think he's mostly worried about us all to make a good first impression… If that's even possible," she quietly added a second later. 

Angel just smirked, "I wouldn't worry too much about it, something tells me Liam's not going to have any issues with you or anyone from your team. Now Linds, he always seems to be screwing up one thing or another." He chuckled, " But if it makes you feel any better I'll save you a seat." 

She honestly wasn't sure if that made her feel better or worse. From all the chatter she'd picked up on since learning she would be working for the next bit of time Lindsey Mcdonald was the closest person to Mr. Angelus. Other than himself and a handful of other employees they were mostly working with an ever changing staff due to the young Angelus' inability to be impressed. 

She blew out a long breath, "I sure wish I had your optimism." 

OoOoO

Lindsey had given her a funny look whenever he saw her stepping off the elevator but he hadn't said anything and she didn't either. Not that either of them really had the chance, nearly as soon as she got back to the office, Harmony, who she quickly came to learn was Liam's assistant came down saying he was needed upstairs. For as little patience as their boss was said to have, and as quick as he was said to fire people she couldn't help but notice what a freaking bimbo he had for an assistant. As much as she tried not to judge people based on other's opinions the more she learned about that man the less she cared for him. 

Since they had pretty much got everything squared away for the meeting she spent the rest of the day trying to think of anything and everything else that may come up tomorrow. Lindsey had mentioned something about needing to find a hotel with a convention center for the annual Christmas party since the one they had used in years prior conveniently seemed to be book. 

It had taken quite a bit of research and way too many phone calls but she'd actually been able to come up with a few decent options. She had no idea how many rooms, if any the company planned to splurge on, but with a little persuasion she'd been able to secure the presidential suite at each with no additional cost should they sign the contract. Smiling to herself she sure hoped this was enough to get in her boss's good graces. 

Opening excel she quickly made a spreadsheet of the three options, being sure to include the cost of each, both the catering and bar packages, and the amount of time they would be allotted. Christmas was still nearly two months away, but in all honesty that didn't leave anyone a whole lot of time to plan a party for a company as large as this one. Remembering that Linds had also spouted off something about a profits and loss report for the last quarter she made sure to print two copies of that as well before finally powering down her computer. 


	3. Chapter Three

Walking into the office the next morning you could feel the tension in the air as everyone scrambled around. Lindsey looked like he was about ready to have a coronary when she finally spotted him, silently passing him one of the coffee cups from the little holder she was carrying. 

"Here," she smiled, "I figured you could probably use this today." 

Instead of thanking her he just grumbled something under his breath as he grabbed the warm beverage and kept moving. Calling back to her not to be late heading upstairs. 

Not sure what that was all about she briefly wondered what she could have done to piss him off, but like everyone else she didn't have a lot of time to dwell on it right then either. Picking up the file off her desk, she balanced it under her arm, as she carried the two remaining coffees towards the elevator she'd just come from. So far she hadn't spotted Angel, though that didn't surprise her too much. Knowing what a busy morning they were all bound to have she made sure to stop and get coffee for the two of them, then thinking of Lindsey last minute she'd grabbed one for him also, something she was starting to regret with his new found attitude. 

Smiling to a few passerbys she briefly wondered if any of them were in fact Liam Angelus, but none of them seemed to fit the image she had conjured up in her mind of the myth of a man at least, nor did any of them seem to be being treated like some kind of the castle that she noticed so she just continued on her way. She kept thinking she would just somehow suddenly know him on sight but that was still to be determined. 

Stepping off of the elevator, she was about to try and go look for Lindsey... or Angel... but as soon as two of her teammates saw her they yelled over, looking panicked making her groan. This wasn't how she needed this day to start.

OoOoO

After staring at him for too long, Lindsey turned his head slightly to scan over the room, then looked back at Angel. "Why does your face look like that?" he asked, sounding equally curious and annoyed. 

Unsure of how he should take that, Angel glared over to his best friend. "And what exactly is  _ wrong  _ with my face?" 

Lindsey took a sip of his coffee, smiling to a few suits as they walked by the two of them, then gave Angel another nasty look. "I don't know," Lindsey finally muttered. "You're not over there scowling and scaring people for one. You hate all of these damn people, and you hate having to go to these meetings. Hell, just the other day you had my eyes fixin' to come straight out of my head asking if you even needed to be here. Which, by the way, in case you are thinking about ditching me last minute, that answer is still a very booming  _ yes  _ you do need to be here."

To be honest, the idea of taking off right now was a little tempting... there was a strong mixture of excitement and nerves over today, and none of it had to do with the business side of this little meeting. The unknowing of how a certain blonde would react to learning the truth about who he was hung in the air. Part of him did want to just drag it out longer, to just enjoy this little taste of "normal" in his eyes, then there was worry she would take his misleads the wrong way, and the rest was just kind of fun to think about. 

Angel shrugged. "Maybe I'm looking forward to your little adventure," he said and Lindsey scoffed. "Where is your crack team anyway?"

Lindsey then glanced at his watch and muttered that hopefully they were on their way. 

OoOoO

After taking care of the paperwork being mixed up disaster as quickly as she could manage, everyone double checked to make sure everything they needed was ready to go, then joined up where they were told to go just as some double doors opened and Lindsey suddenly appeared to pep them up and walk in with.

As everyone was still bustling around with small talk as they got settled, Buffy made her way closer to Angel, presenting him with the coffee. "I do see you already have a cup though."

Angel smiled a little, "Just finished it actually so perfect timing. Thank you." As Angel quietly told her and the others they could go ahead and take a seat down the line beside him, she noticed Lindsey staring over at her with that same strange look he had given her yesterday before he came rushing over to all of them.

Lindsey started to tell the team they were supposed to sit on the other side of the room but Angel waved him off, telling him it was fine. "What are you doing?" she heard Lindsey whisper but Angel just told him it was time to start and again that everything was fine. "I swear to God-"

"Just worry about yourself, Linds."

OoOoO

As the meeting began, Angel sat quietly, taking everyone in. He already knew Lindsey's whole plan, his pitch and the various speeches - probably by heart at this point, so it was easy to tune him out. Instead he enjoyed his coffee, thought about numerous other things he could be doing if this wasn't his life, how the girl sitting on the opposite side of Buffy obviously knew who he was and it was making her incredibly nervous, her leg kept bouncing, fingers twitching, he noticed how Buffy used silent cues with the others as almost a second in command to Lindsey, guiding them up to the floor as needed... 

He wouldn't say he was impressed with the little borrowed group from Lilah as not much got held in those regards these days, but so far he didn't have any complaints really either. Yes, they were nervous and there were a couple bumps but more than the usual morons he had to deal with coming in here they seemed to at least have an idea as to what they were doing. 

His mind was wandering off into questions of how if some of these people panned out over the course of the next couple of months how wrong it might be to try and lure them to come work here when he heard the tail end of a question addressed to him. 

Having heard enough of it to answer, Angel let out a breath and slowly stood up, knowing one question always led to the next and the next. As he moved to stand, he could feel the air shift between him and Buffy, the confusion written all over her face as he moved, and as he began to address the others. 

When he finally sat back down, Lindsey was calling her back up to join him, refusing to even look his way as they changed places. She still held it together but looking close enough you could tell she was rattled, just doing a good job of hiding it. 

OoOoO

After getting snippy, over the fact he just wanted to find Buffy more than his usual annoyance with people, everyone finally left him alone and he was able to escape the room of those still discussing last minute details with Lindsey. 

He knew Lindsey had told them they could take an early lunch so he knew his chances of spotting her were slim to none as it were but still he went racing for the elevator, coming to a stop then back tracing when he caught a glimpse of her at the end of one of the hallways near his office. 

That weird bubbling inside of him hit again, the idea that she took no issue in coming to confront him or whatever the case may be making him far happier than it really should. 

"I'm sorry," he said from behind her as he got closer. She turned around slowly and he couldn't seem to get a read on her expression, and she just kept looking curiously at him for the longest time. "What are you thinking?" he finally asked. 

"Mmm," she finally muttered, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm really not sure what to think,  _ Liam _ ," she stressed his name in a way that made him want to wince. 

"Buffy, I am sorry that I didn't tell you who I really was. I didn't mean…"

She cut him off, "You didn't mean to what," she glared. "To lie to me?" 

She understood where he must be coming from, she was sure it was refreshing to not just be recognized as the big boss around here, but what he didn't understand was that none of that mattered with her, which she made a point of telling him. 

"Buffy," he finally managed when she stopped for a breath, "Can we put a pin in this for just a second, just," he sighed, "Just come into my office."

The curious looks from those around them were not lost on him, and honestly he would just feel a lot more comfortable having this conversation behind closed doors. Besides the last thing he needed for Lindsey to come prancing up, mouthing off about whatever was flittering through his damn head at the moment, or worse have him start throwing a million and one questions their way. 

Not wanting to draw anymore attention herself she nodded and let him lead her into office, but as soon as they were inside the large mahogany doors she stepped out of reach. Taking a second she looked around the space that somehow she could already tell was uniquely him. Walking over by the sofa she carefully examined a portrait he had hung on the wall, it was beautiful, "Did you do this," she eventually asked, her tone thankfully much softer than it had been before. 

Clearing his throat, he forced himself not to move closer, instead he leaned back against his desk. Her question had thrown him, there weren't too many people left on this earth that knew of his ability, his true passion. "It was a long time ago," he finally mumbled, hoping she wouldn't make a big deal about it. 

Her eyes finally glanced back his way, "Angel it's amazing," she smiled and for just a second she'd forgotten just what they were doing in there in the first place, "Liam," she corrected, "I meant Liam." 

But his head just shook, "Angel's fine." He wasn't sure why he didn't mind her using his long forgotten childhood name, no one other than Lindsey and Wes on very rare occasions ever dared to call him such, but hearing his true name fall from her lips made uncomfortable in ways he didn't quite understand or want to figure out. 

"Okay," she nodded, then letting out a slow breath she turned around and took a seat on the sofa so she was facing him. "Well now that you've been witness to my little outburst I'm not sure what to say," she admitted. 

Pushing off the desk, he slowly made his way beside her on the couch, "Well," he smirked, "You could always say that you're not mad at me." 

"Mmm. I could," she sighed letting her back fall back against the sofa, "But does it matter? I mean at the end of the day the name I call you doesn't matter, not really. You're still you at the end of the day, you still run this place, and most importantly you're still my boss."

"It matters to me," he dared. 

"Well that's good to know, I mean there were a few seconds there I thought this had all been some ploy to live up to your name and really humiliate the newcomer." 

That made him laugh a little, "Hey I told you I wasn't as bad as everyone out there made me out to be." 

"Uhuh," she grinned, "I'm afraid that has yet to be determined mister." 

Just then both their eyes flew to the other side of the room as Lindsey came strutting through the doors only to freeze mid step when he spotted her. Once again his whole demeanor seemed to shift, "Something I should know about," he asked, directing the question toward Angel. 

"As a matter of fact there is," he grumbled, "I have a secretary for a reason." 

"Oh I'm sorry," he drawled, "Was I interrupting something?"

Angel just continued to glare from his relaxed seat next to Buffy, "Aren't you always?" 

Lindsey's presence sure didn't seem to phase Angel, but she was feeling more than a little out of place. It was one thing to let loose when Angel was around, these last days they'd had quite the little adventure, but Lindsey was a totally different story. She hadn't so much as laid eyes on him outside of these walls, and despite his natural tendency to flirt, things had been strictly professional. 

She watched as his gaze bounced back and forth between the two of them, clearly he didn't know what to think about this situation either. "You two know each other or something?" 

"Or something," Angel answered, earning himself another glare from Buffy. 

"Well," she went to stand, "I think I'm going to leave you two boys here to talk about whatever it is you need to discuss." She went to go but Angel's strong fingers quickly wrapped around her wrist. 

"You don't have to go Buffy," he laughed, "It's just Lindsey." 

Lindsey's jaw went slack, "What's that supposed to mean?" 

Angel, a master at tuning his yammering out, just continued. Standing up beside her, he tried to lower his voice if only a little. "Wait for me downstairs," he asked softly. "The least I could do is take you to lunch after all this." 

Behind them Lindsey's eyes about bulged right back out of his head. 

She hesitated, "I don't know Angel."

"Please," he asked, knowing already he was going to catch an ear full from Linds as soon as she was out the door. 

She rolled her eyes, "Fine, but I get to pick."

He grinned, "Deal."

OoOoO

After she left Angel's office she headed straight for the closest ladies room. Splashing some cold water on her face she couldn't help but feel like she'd woken up in the damn twilight zone this morning. Even though realizing who exactly Angel was had made her head spin, it was actually making a lot of other things make sense. Like the car he drove, the fact that he hadn't blinked while taking her out to some of the finer department stores yesterday. Hell even the way he had acted at the damn coffee shop made sense now that she knew who he was. 

What kept throwing her however was this softer side she kept catching glimpses of, sure he had that cocky arrogance everyone seemed to notice going on this morning in the boardroom, but outside of there he was a completely different person, at least with her it seemed.

Patting her face dry she quickly replaced her lip gloss, and took a deep breath. "It's just Angel," she reminded her reflection. They were just a couple of coworkers going to grab lunch, no big deal, it just wasn't. 

OoOoO

Closing the doors to his office, Angel took a deep breath before turning around. Of course Lindsey was sitting there leg bouncing a mile a minute, shit eating grin plastered across his face.

"What," he growled. 

"Angel huh?"

Going over to his desk, he tried to ignore his friends prying stare as he grabbed his duster from the back of his chair. He shrugged, "It is my name."

"Uh huh."

"Yes. You, yourself, happen to call me it all the time."

"Uh huh," he repeated. "It's your name that I and, I don't know, probably less than five other people left on this planet that see you more often than not happen to use. Hell, Harmony only calls you Mr. Angelus at this point even, and I'm pretty damn sure that Darla or any of your other little flings wouldn't happen to dare-"

"Lindsey," Angel cut him off. "You're making this into an unneeded mountain."

" _ Sure  _ I am. Do you want me to start telling everyone around here that they should also start referring to you as Angel... or is this a situational thing between you and Miss Summers there?"

Angel let out a slow breath. "I'll let you answer that for yourself."

"And are you planning on dining out with all members of my new team... or just that one?" 

Angel was pretty sure if this fool smiled any harder his face was going to be nothing but teeth in a minute. "Speaking of such... as you might have noticed I do have somewhere to be heading off to," he side stepped dignifying that with an answer as well. 

Lindsey just continued to stare as Angel finished getting ready to go, gesturing for him to head out as well when he got closer to the door. "Are you sleeping with her?"

" _ What? _ No."

"Have you slept with her?"

"Jesus, Lindsey. No."

Lindsey stood, then, "Are you tryin' to sleep with her?"

"For fuck's sake," Angel grumbled. "No. I am not."

"Uh huh," Lindsey let out one last time, finally joining Angel on the other side of the room. "I don't know what's goin' on here and you can act like this isn't some sort of case of the world spinning off its axis all you want to, but we both know better. When you're ready to admit to that you know where to find me. I'll leave you with that."

"Go away, Lindsey."

OoOoO

Buffy still felt a weird anxiousness bubbling inside of her stomach when she saw Angel again, she was pretty sure that she stared at him the entire time they had gone over where to eat, and she reminded herself over and over not to overthink all of this the whole ride there, and then she felt her legs want to turn to near jelly as she started walking from her car to meet back up with him. Sure, he was still essentially the same person that she barely knew in the first place... or so she assumed and hoped... but it was still strange to think of him and "Liam Angelus" as the same person... more so the longer she thought about it.

"What is it?" Angel asked as they waited in the short line to get a table. 

Buffy blushed a little, obviously she hadn't been so stealthy about trying to observe him in this new light or how she kept almost asking him why he hadn't just told her in the first place only to think better about it before the words actually slipped off her tongue. "Nothing," she tried to wave him off but he kept insisting until the question was finally out. 

"I don't know. You stepped onto the elevator and I just figured you'd realize who I was and then you didn't and were over there ranting at me... and as weird as this may seem it was a nice change to my daily routine."

"Oh, I'm sure people call you an asshole all the time," she said with a smirk his way. 

He chuckled at that and shrugged his shoulders. "True, but not quite like that. I was about to yell at you because my morning hadn't exactly been going great either that particular morning then you kept going and it was... I don't know," he repeated. "I liked that you didn't know who I was while standing there in my building and going off on me. It was almost endearing to have an actual reaction from someone there if that makes any sense."

"Mmhmm. Well I suggest you be glad you didn't start mouthing off at me as I would have happily put you in your place about that and this little relationship would be a completely different story, I can guarantee that."

OoOoO

Before he could even glance at the menu placed before him, Buffy snatched it up, earning one hell of a confused look from him. 

"Now, listen, I know you're all used to your hoity toity lifestyle and all and probably like going places where they give you seven courses with those tiny little foods as big as my pinky on each plate and whatever... but the food is actually very good here and I don't do breakfast except maybe on Sundays so I like to eat some actual food at my meals... which will be served here. Just fair warning," she told him then finally gave the menu back.

"I'll think I'll manage to survive," he said, fighting back a smile. He said a silent thank you to whatever was out there in the universe that the truth coming out hadn't suddenly turned Buffy into acting like everyone else around him and she still treated him exactly as she had been the past few days since their unexpected meeting. He didn't know what exactly any of this was, a friendship maybe, but whatever the case all he knew was he enjoyed being around her more than anyone he'd crossed paths with for years now and he felt like he was able to be something more than the angry leader of Angelus Enterprises around her. And while there was awkwardness there at first when they joined back up after it all, it was nice to see not too much had managed to change between them just yet.

OoOoO

"You didn't wear your new coat today," he commented, only because she'd mentioned such before they parted ways yesterday. 

Buffy gave him another one of those unreadable looks then smiled a little. "I thought about it, you know because of the big meeting and all, but then I figured I needed to save it for something bigger than that. Maybe some movie star asks me out for example."

"You have a history of dating the Hollywood elite?" 

"Oh, please... I wish! But if the time ever comes I am prepared now... thanks to you," she laughed. 

"Glad to be of service," he drawled before answering when she started asking him what he was planning to order as they waited for the girl taking care of their table to return. 

"At some point my wallet and brain are going to get on the same page about not spending so much on eating out during the week... but today is not that day." He reminded her he'd offered to take her here but she shot him an annoyed look from across the booth. 

"I am trying to apologize and all... remember..."

"Well, you know it is as simple as saying the words, Angel. You don't have to go around buying people things and spending money on them just to earn their forgiveness." 

Leaning forward across the table he threw her one of those dazzling smiles that had been getting him out of trouble since the third grade, "Does that mean I'm forgiven?"

She couldn't help but giggle, "I guess, for now anyways," she added after a second. 

"For now? And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh please, it's been days and you've already nearly trampled me," she smiled, "Practically growled at me, and lied to me. Prove me wrong, but I just don't see this streak ending here buddy." 

OoOoO

"Uhh," she whined as she shoved the rest of the peach cobbler he'd insisted on sharing back his way. “Ya know I love the idea of taking an early lunch, but it always makes the day seem to drag afterwards."

Truth was he couldn't even remember the last time he'd ordered dessert somewhere, sweets weren't really his thing, but for some reason he just didn't want this to end. He was pretty sure he'd laughed and smiled more in the last hour than he had in all the years since he was forced into taking the damn business over. "Trust me I know the feeling," he grumbled, finally giving up any ideas he had on finishing the treat he tossed a napkin over it. 

"You always stay all day?" She had to admit she'd been more than a little curious about just how much time he spent in the office. Knowing now who he was, she was a little surprised realizing they'd been keeping basically the same hours. Everywhere she'd worked in the past you hardly caught sight of anyone in a position like his, especially not someone whose name literally represented the place. 

He shrugged, "All day, evenings, more often than not I end up just staying the damn night." Handing the waitress one of his credit cards, he didn't even bother looking at the bill. 

"Angel," she whined, "We just talked about this."

"We did," he nodded, "And we both agreed that this was part of that whole apology thing, remember?" 

She huffed,"Fine, but next time it's on me." 

He just smirked, "I'm just not sure that's something I can agree to Miss Summers."

OoOoO

After making a quick stop at the bathroom they were walking albeit a little lazily back to their respected vehicles when he heard her say his name. 

He glanced her way, "Hmm?"

"How do you shower?" 

"Uhh," he stumbled for a second, "Is this supposed to be a trick question?" He was quickly learning that there was just not any knowing what might come out of her mouth. 

"No silly," she laughed bumping into his shoulder with her own. "You said you end up crashing at the office some nights."

"Oh, right that," he smirked. "You had me a little worried for a second there. No, back when my Grandpa was running the place he had a whole suite type thing installed. There's not a bed or anything but there's a shower, fridge, television, all that nonsense." 

"So the company, it's a family thing?"

Of all the conversations they could stumble upon he wasn't sure how they had ended up here. He swallowed, "Something like that."

"Well they must be proud, you're what the third generation?" 

"Actually," he paused, most people knew the story of how he came to be the head of Angelus Enterprises, they used to anyway. Even though most of the old timers were long gone, he would still catch wind of one rumor of another. No one had ever dared bring the matter up to him though, even Lindsey knew better than to press the issue too much. "They're all dead," he eventually managed, not sure why he felt the need to admit that to her, knowing he could have easily avoided it. 

She felt like the wind had been knocked out of her, she'd heard rumors about the younger Angelus while she was working under Lilah, but she never paid too much mind to them. Well not enough to believe there was any truth behind him being the last one left. "Angel I'm so sorry, I didn't," she stumbled, "I'm sorry." 

Reaching her car he leaned back against the trunk and shrugged, "It's not a big deal Buffy, it was a long time ago."

She wasn't sure if it was because she knew the pain of losing a parent, her mother had passed away pretty suddenly from a brain aneurysm a couple years back, but in that moment her heart positively ached for him. "Doesn't matter," she whispered trying to keep the emotion out of her voice. "I kinda have some experience there too, not my whole family, but my mom." Pausing for a second to clear her throat, she shook her head in an attempt to keep the unshed tears at bay. "I swear it doesn't matter how old you are when you lose a parent a part of you always feels like an orphan." 

He nodded, "That just may be the truest thing I ever heard." 


	4. Chapter Four

Taking the long way back to work, he told himself it was so he could stop at the coffee shop, but the reality was he just needed a minute to clear his head. He hated that Buffy had lost her mom, that on some level she understood where all of his pain and anger stemmed from, even if she didn't know the details. She was right though age didn't matter, there was something about losing a parent, especially before their time, that just thrust you into the same club, one no outsider would ever understand. 

Inside the coffeeshop he decided to play nice and grab one of the frozen girlie drinks Lindsey seemed to love so much. He swore the damn things didn't have a drop of actual caffeine, but Linds' dumbass had no problem drinking them proudly. Of course taking one to him meant that he would inevitably pass by Buffy as well, and even though she had absolutely nothing to do with his sudden generosity, he figured he might as well grab her one too, since she'd be around. 

With all the excitement this morning he'd completely forgot to ask Lindsey if he'd had the chance to narrow down any hotels for the Christmas party. It was pretty much the one tradition he'd kept up with since taking over, that and outlandish bonuses his Grandpa always insisted on handing out during the holiday. It wasn't that he considered himself greedy, unlike his grandfather he was just under the impression that the people who worked for him should at least have half a damn brain. 

OoOoO

Stepping off his elevator onto the twelfth floor he tried to ignore the way everyone seemed to step to the side of him, too afraid to get in his way. Balancing the drink carrier he pushed his way into the small lot of offices Lindsey had taken over. Most of them were nothing more than cubicles, but Linds had his own private space and he was happy enough with that. Scanning the room his eyes spotted Lindsey, but it wasn't until he was a few steps closer that he realized just whose desk he was perched up on top of, laughing in a way that seemed way too friendly for his liking. He had known Lindsey nearly all of his damn life so even with just half of his face visible it didn't take much to see a little twinkle in his eye as he spoke with Buffy, how he leaned closer and closer to her as he spoke... making her laugh just as hard as he was. And even as he chastised himself for the sudden jealous outburst, he still wanted to go shove the damn asshole off into the floor for the whole scene.

Not wanting to dwell on where in the hell any of that was coming from, his mind blanked and a much calmer feeling rushed over him once she happened to spot him out of the corner of her eye, a mixture of surprise and happiness taking over her face as their eyes locked on one another. 

When Lindsey hopped down from her desk and started his way he was really wishing he hadn't even come down here in the first place. 

Lindsey nodded toward the cups as he got closer. "That for me?" 

"It was," he drawled out, earning a smirk from Linds as he reached out for it. 

"Just what I was craving too. Mmm, doesn't look like you brought enough for the whole class there though, Mr. Angelus," Lindsey commented, glancing at the remaining cup. "Might be a little suspicious with the head honcho around here bringing special treats for a  _ certain someone _ ."

Angel wasn't sure if Linds was trying to be helpful in that moment or if he was simply digging at him over whatever he was piecing together about Buffy and himself but either way it did make him wonder what he had been thinking with this little move. If it were in private it wouldn't be such a big deal but Lindsey was right, showing up like this in front of the others - on top of how this morning had gone - might bring some unwanted attention her way. 

"Okay, breathe," Lindsey laughed when Angel's face looked stuck, turning his head slightly he pointed behind them. "If anything, just say it's for Lilah."

"Lilah?" 

"Hello again, Liam," came Lilah Morgan's voice, she smiled coldly at him before greeting Lindsey with a little less ice. "I heard congratulations are in order. It seems my team was just the ticket, huh?" 

"You have no idea," Lindsey stepped in. "And just for starters about how thankful and appreciative of you we all are around here, we got this for you," he said, swiping up the other coffee and handing it to her with a wink Angel's way. "Why don't you come on in and see everyone..." 

Angel sighed as he watched the two of them walking back toward the group, unsure if he should follow or just head back upstairs once Lindsey called out asking if he was coming to join them as well.

OoOoO

After letting Lilah peek around the office, catch up with the crew she had out on lease, and squeeze as much out of them for the gesture he'd brought her back to his rarely used private office for a drink and to catch up a bit. He really had gone into all of this nearly blind with who she was sending so it was nice to have a chance to get a bit more background about everyone... especially a certainly tiny blonde in particular. 

Of course he had to admit his interest there all together was new. Not only was the tiny blonde absolutely stunning and making him question his personal ethics code about who he works with but he found himself quite impressed with her at every turn since her arrival here. Then to cherry top all of that, you add in whatever in the fucking hell was up with her and Angel. 

"Mmm, Miss Summers. She is probably my hardest worker out of the group, never takes an issue with going the extra mile, usually knows what I need before I do... and all without being a kiss ass about it. She's just generally good at the game. Almost frustratingly so. It all seems to come easy to her, and she's far too nice... while at the same time refuses to take anyone's shit. I could almost like her."

While she continued, then moved on to the next person and the next, Lindsey barely paid attention to what she was saying, too caught up in his own thoughts all over again. The more he heard and got to know Buffy, the less it made sense of there being some connection between her and Angel. 

Losing his family, being thrust into this position that was never meant for him, having let go of just about everything that had made him who he used to be had taken an impossibly high toll on Angel. He didn't have friends beyond himself and Wes, Angel certainly didn't go around trying to make new ones with bubbly strangers. He didn't like anyone who didn't know exactly what they were doing and didn't know how to leave him the hell alone. 

The whole thing was bizarre. 

OoOoO

"Thanks for the coffee."

Angel wasn't so sure standing out in the parking garage at her car was any better than hand delivering a hot drink to her, but here he was. 

Buffy smiled as she got closer. "I bet it was delicious. You sure looked like a deer caught in headlights, though, just so you know."

Angel gave her a sheepish look. "I was trying to do something nice and then Lindsey made a comment and I started questioning how smart my choices were. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable in front of the others or anything like that."

She shrugged. "I figured as much, but it was funny. Sure in the hell made me crave a cup all damn afternoon though."

"Sorry."

"You sure do a lot of apologizing to me," she laughed. She was so ready to go home and have a bit of a brain break after the whirlwind week this had been. 

When Buffy asked him about if he had any wild and crazy plans she should be jealous of planned for the weekend he sighed and shook his head. "I'll be here."

_ "Seriously?" _

"I'm here just about every day," he sighed. "I don't usually keep the same hours on the weekends as I do during the week... but there's always endless amounts of bullshit I need to get to."

"If you hate this place as much as it seems why don't you just quit or sell it off or something?" she couldn't help but ask.

"I don't hate the company, Buffy. I love it, I do.... and I'm proud of this place. I just... I wasn't supposed to be here." Once again he wasn't sure why he was letting even a hint of his darkest truths out to this damn girl but it all seemed to fly out of his mouth before he had a chance to think better of it.

"I don't know the details of your situation, Angel, but I really don't think you're supposed to be working yourself to death. I mean what's the point in living if all you do is wake up to work? You gotta find at least a sliver of time for yourself, go out, do something fun, something you enjoy. You can even start off with baby steps," she grinned, "One night a week, you deserve that much." 

"Baby steps huh?" 

She nodded, "Uh huh, as a matter of fact why don't you go out with Lindsey tonight, I'm not sure what all that entails but he sure made it sound like a ball." 

His mind quickly sifted through everything she had just said, and pushing all the heavier stuff to the side, he couldn't help but wonder just how she knew what Linds would be up to tonight and why that seemed to bother him so much. "And just what's he got going on," he questioned, trying his best to keep his tone neutral. 

Working her lip, she tried to keep the grin she was hiding from taking over, she didn't know them very well, but she could already sense what seemed to be a little competition brewing between the two of them. "Oh I'm not really sure," she shrugged, "He kept trying to talk me into going but I promised him a rain check, I'm just a little beyond exhausted being my first week here and all." 

Angel frowned, "Lindsey wanted you to go out with him?" 

She laughed, "Well I don't think he meant it like that, but he did invite me to go out to some taco shop with him and a few others from this place. He kept going on and on about how they served the best tacos in the whole state, plus dollar beer, he made sure to make a point of that part." 

"I'll bet he did," He couldn't help but grumble. He had been planning on heading out for the night, going home, maybe grabbing a hot shower before he tried to make up for all the damn sleepless nights he'd suffered through this week. Now however he was seriously considering marching right back up stairs and having a word or two with Mr. Mcdonald. 

"What's the deal between the two of you anyhow?"

He let out a long sigh, "I guess you could say he's one of the few friends I have left," he paused, "And a giant pain in my ass."

It felt like the more she got to know Angel, the more her heart seemed to ache for him. She hadn't quite gotten him all figured out just yet, but she already knew with a certainty that the man held one hell of backstory. He was so much more than the stone cold, tyrannical employer everyone seemed to make him out to be, yes, she could sense that ruthless streak she'd heard so much about but there was so much more to him than just that. She wasn't sure why it was so hard for everyone else to see past that stony exterior he'd built when it seemed to be so easy for her. 

"Ya know," she pressed, mimicking his position against the car she let her head fall to his shoulder, then looking up she tried to feign the most innocent look possible, "You might have more friends if you were just," she held up her fingers, "A little bit nicer." 

Letting out a small huff, his eyes drifted down to meet hers, "I am nice," he tried to argue but she just rolled her eyes.

"Oh please, everyone inside the building, hell inside freaking Los Angeles is terrified of you. Ya, you're nice to me," she grinned, "Well except for the whole plowing me over thing, but that only goes to prove my point."

"Which is," he smirked, not able to help but find it adorable the way she couldn't help but rattle on. 

"That you need people skills."

He shook his head, "I don't do people."

She stared at him dumbfounded, "Um, hello, person here, and I'm sorry but after these last few days I'd almost call us friends, so sorry mister but you definitely do me." As soon as the words left her mouth, her hand was flying up to cover it, "Uhh," she stumbled, "I mean you like me," suddenly she felt the temperature turn up a few degrees, she was just sure her face was about the color of a tomato right about then, sometimes she really felt like she should hold the trophy for inserting a foot in your mouth. "I mean," she groaned, "Ugh, you know what I meant. See this is exactly why Buffy needs sleep, my brains a mess." 

He couldn't help but chuckle, then before he knew what he was doing, before he had the chance to second guess himself, he heard his voice asking for her phone. Taking it from her fingers he quickly programmed his own number into the device, "I'm pretty sure that makes us official," he smirked again, "Friends anyway." 

OoOoO

He had just rounded the corner from stepping off the elevator when he caught a glimpse of the two of them standing together, next to what he could only assume was Buffy's car. Not wanting to interrupt, and more than just a little curious, he quietly took a step off into the shadows. 

At first he'd had to go do a double take, that mother fucker was laughin, actually laughing. He was too far away to hear what they were saying but he could tell just by looking at them they most definitely weren't simply discussing work. Not really one to lurk, he was definitely more of a make his presence known type of guy, he'd been just about to step out and say something smart when he heard the sound of his own name. 

His curiosity peaked, he strained to hear what they were saying but between the damn other cars in the garage and all the noise outside he just couldn't make it out. Then his eyes just about popped out of his head when he saw Angel take what he thought was Buffy's phone. Had he any doubts after everything today, he had none now, Angel was falling fast and furious. 

The problem was going to be getting him to realize and accept that. That stubborn mother fucker could be awfully dense at times too. He had intentionally invited Buffy out this weekend, Angel was one of his best friends, even if he did possess the ability to grate each and every one of his nerves at times. As far as he could tell she seemed like a decent girl, but he just wanted to be sure, all though he wasn't sure anyone could be as bad as fucking Darla Pratt.

OoOoO

After grabbing a quick bite to eat, she had filled up her bathtub and added a few drops of her favorite bubble bath. Soaking in the hot water she tried to clear her mind, to not think about work, but she couldn't quite seem to stop her thoughts from drifting to a certain boss of hers. It sure was a whirlwind to think about, a week ago she'd sat in this very spot stressed beyond belief about even the idea of going to work at Angelus Enterprises. She really did try and find the good in situations, in people as well, but it was safe to say that there was a big reputation over there that made it all feel like doom and gloom ahead the more she would think about it all and try to prepare herself. In the same breath that she felt hopeful about what she could learn with this unexpected opportunity, she had worried that shed look like a fool just being tossed into something she felt she probably knew next to nothing about. Sure, she was a fast learner and had no reservations about going an extra mile to help out but it wasn't exactly hidden news that people came and went from the company like it was nothing, that damn near perfection was expected of you from the moment you are hired on, and that was quite a bit of pressure to walk in with. 

Best case scenario at the time had been not having some verbal brawl with the man in charge that she kept imagining as a dark, looming cloudy figure almost when she tripped up on something. Best case scenario was basically just escaping the next couple of months - if that - with just getting the work done, surviving more than anything else. 

Actually finding that she enjoyed it there was nice... The project was fun, her skill sets were great for it all it felt like, she liked how the company was set up from the inside and how various aspects were handled from what she had seen so far anyhow. Most of her time was spent with her team she already knew but surprisingly everyone she had dealt with she found delightful enough, Lindsey was great, and then of course there was Angel... 

Never in a million years would she have imagined herself as somehow becoming random friends with the man in charge. It really didn't make much sense but that was okay, being on his good side wasn't exactly a bad thing. Beyond the obvious reasonings there, she did actually enjoy his company and couldn't help but want to know more about him, to try and be something positive in his life since he seemed to need such more than anyone else she had ever met. 

One thing her mother and grandmother before her had always tried to instill into her was you should always try and leave everything better than how you found it. Sometimes that was somewhere, and sometimes that was someone. 

OoOoO

After following through with his plans to hop into the shower once he got home, Angel got dressed and sighed as he dug around his medicine cabinet to find something to hopefully knock him out for awhile. 

Grabbing his phone from the charger in the kitchen, he also took a bottle of water from the fridge before glancing around the nearly bare appliance and made a mental reminder that he should probably go shopping at some point. As he walked back toward his bedroom, he couldn't seem to stop himself from opening his messages and re-reading over the quick text Buffy had sent him earlier so he would also have her number. 

She had cheerfully told him she'd see him Monday before they'd parted ways earlier and he couldn't help but feel suddenly like two days seemed dreadfully long. Usually he found going into the office on the weekend a little more peaceful, there was only a handful of people who went in on Saturdays and even less on Sunday, sometimes a team would set something up on the weekends as well but for the most part it was quieter, less people to drive him batshit crazy in the process. As soon as she said that, however, he couldn't help but hope Monday would stop feeling so far away. 

Just about to put his phone down on the nightstand, he felt it vibrate but looked down only to find another message from Darla coming through. Not wanting to even deal with her right now, he went ahead and laid it down before crawling more comfortably into the bed. 

After a few more seemed to come in one after another, Angel closed his eyes and tried telling his mind and body to just relax but as usual it wasn't as simple as that. Instead, he started to make mental lists of everything he needed to do tomorrow, for this project or this event, trying to remind himself he needed to find time to do a million other things even outside of work. Which that in itself seemed impossible as really all he did was just that. 

Buffy was right, he needed more in his life for the sake of sanity than just running this company... but she was hardly the first person to bring this up, hell, Lindsey mentioned it at least once a day it even felt like, but it wasn't as simple as that. Not to him. 

He did debate the idea as he laid there in the quiet of reaching out to Wes or to Linds come tomorrow and see what they could find to do together at some point over the weekend, which was something he usually only did in a blue moon anyway, but his head followed up with a million other things he should be doing if he thought to just lollygag around town. And, then... there was always the endless guilt to follow. And that was always the hardest to deal with or to try and overcome.

His family had always been very supportive of the fact that he had his own plans and desires in this world, that he had his own path he wanted to follow. There was a number of others in line to work for the company, poised to be the lines of followers in his grandfather's footsteps well before him so it was nothing he'd had to really worry about until he did, there had been other members of his family who had spent their lives preparing for that opportunity, learning the business, being apart of this... and then it was just thrust upon him and he felt as though he did nothing sometimes but try and play catch up... 

There was just never enough time after that. 

He was long since convinced there would never come a day when he wouldn't feel like he was failing and ruining everything that was supposed to be. He'd been so panicked at first, he had tried so hard, but at some point trying felt like drowning with no end in sight. He grew bitter, resentful. Everything he was seemed to float away, everything besides trying to keep this place running stopped mattering to much of anything. 

He was noticing that tingling feeling taking over in the back of his head as the medicine somewhat kicked in just as his phone made noise again. Ignoring it, he assumed it was just Darla still asking if he needed any company anytime soon. 

Squeezing his eyes tighter, Angel again tried pushing any and all thoughts from his mind and tried to force sleep to come. 

OoOoO

She wasn't sure what had made her do it, but now, with his lack of response she felt absolutely ridiculous. She kept trying to tell herself it wasn't a big deal but with each moment that passed she felt worse and worse. She'd text him with some stupid game she'd learned from Willow years ago, she named a topic and listed her top three favorites from the category, he was supposed to do the same, only he hadn't, and now she couldn't feel anymore freaking juvenile. 

She wasn't really sure what to make of having his number in the first place, she had written out countless texts before chickening out and deleting each and every one. That was how she had come up with the whole game in the first place, it was something her and Will used to do to pass the time when they were younger. Yes, admittedly it was a bit childish, but it was a good way to get to know someone regardless. 

She'd explained the rules to him, then given him an easy topic, favorite foods, and provided her answers, only it had been a couple hours now and he had yet to respond. What she had originally thought to be a cute fun game, suddenly had her wanting to crawl under a rock and hide until she was in her eighties, at least. 

OoOoO

Lying in bed he'd read through the series of text at least a dozen times. Now he was kicking himself for falling asleep without checking his messages, yes a couple were from Darla, but Buffy had also text him and now he wasn't sure if he'd let too much time pass to respond. He didn't want her to think he was ignoring her but he didn't want to come across as some weirdo either. She wanted to know his favorite foods, top three to be exact, then he was supposed to come up with a whole new topic. So far he'd listed at least a dozen favorite foods, and went through twice as many new topics, only to chicken out just before hitting send. 

As a matter of fact he'd wasted over an hour trying to compose the perfect response, and now he was more than just a little aggravated with the whole situation. He kept trying to tell himself that it wasn't a big deal, they were just co-workers, friends at best, but it didn't matter. Something about that damn girl had him constantly second guessing himself, no matter how simple the conversation. He had given her his number on a whim, not thinking much of it at the time, he probably would have thought twice had he known just how much torment it would lead to though. 

Typing out his final response for the countless time, he held his breath and hit send before he had the chance to second guess himself, again. Letting out a long sigh he threw the covers back and climbed from the bed, normally he would almost say he enjoyed the quietness of Saturday's at the office, but not today, today all he could seem to think about was the absence of a certain blonde. 

OoOoO

She must have been more tired than she thought. She hardly ever slept later than eight or nine, even on the weekends. So when she finally forced her eyes open to see that it was nearly noon was more than a little shocking. Grateful it was Saturday and it didn't really matter how late she slept, she tried to close her eyes once more and will her dreams back. Unfortunately the sandman just wasn't on her side, after lying there for a full hour she finally gave up and grabbed for her phone. 

Her breath hitched when she noticed the number of missed messages, repeating out loud to herself that it was probably just Willow, she didn't even try to fight the grin when she saw Angel's name next to the little number of texts. He'd fallen asleep, which she really should have thought about the time when she decided to text him last night, but in that instant it just hadn't seemed all that important. 

As much as she had been looking forward to the weekend, to the time to de-stress, she just couldn't help but think how impossibly long it suddenly seemed either. Honestly she wasn't sure what to do with herself besides trying to catch up on sleep, she had no other major plans. Willow was out of town with the Dingoes for the next couple of weeks, Oz's band having finally got signed to a major label was pretty much booked solid for the next few weeks all across the United States. Ever the supportive girlfriend Will had taken a leave of absence from her job so that she could go on tour with the band. 

Which was exactly why this weekend seemed all the more lonely, hell she had half the mind to get up, get dressed, and mosey on into the office for the afternoon. She already knew that Angel would be there, she was almost certain there was something she could help him with. Not to mention the fact that he seemed to carry the weight of the freaking world on his shoulders, no one deserved that burden, CEO or not he needed a life outside of that place. Outside of duty and responsibility, he needed to learn how to have fun again. 

It didn't matter that he was her boss or the Liam Angelus, to her he was just Angel, who apparently held an affinity for pasta judging from his latest round of texts. That wasn't what had her stumped though, as per the rules of the game he got to list the next topic, where she had taken it easy on him, he had decided to just go off the deep end…  _ Perfect Date.  _

That was the topic he had given her, along with his top three. She tried to come up with the perfect answer but it seemed the more she thought about it the sillier her answers sounded. Beach, they lived in California, way too cliche. Movies, boring, plus everyone always went to the movies for a date when in reality that was pretty much the worst place you could go if you were really trying to get to know someone. Sure it was a great place to cop a feel, but heavy and meaningful conversation, not so much. She thought about typing out an amusement park or something of the like, but honestly that wasn't her idea of the ideal date either. 

With as much experience as she had in that regard, she had one hell of a track record when it came to first dates, especially since there had only been a handful of guys who managed to score a second, she just didn't understand why the question had her so stumped. Maybe because it was Angel asking, she wasn't sure. As much as she tried to fight it that man sure had a way of making her pulse increase whenever he was around, not because of who he was or his position, hell she hadn't even known those aspects when their paths had first happened to cross and there was already a strange bubbling inside of her back then whenever it came to him. 

She kept trying to tell herself it was nothing more than the simple fact of everything was new with this little budding friendship and of course the fact he was easily the most gorgeous creature she'd yet to lay eyes on and that was enough to throw anyone through a damn loop. But, whatever the cause, it was impossible to simply deny its presence. 

Pulling herself out of bed, phone in hand, she kept working on what to send back his way. 


End file.
